Introduction
In a world of Trip Advisor, Google Reviews, and 5-star rating systems, providing an exceptional experience is important. When we have a great experience at a restaurant, for example, we tell other people about the experience and usually recommend that they visit too. And when we have a poor experience, we do the same thing, but instead of recommending our friends visit, we advise them not to go.
The modern workplace is no different to hospitality when it comes to the visitor experience, and Facilities Management must begin to adopt practices that improve the visitor experience.
Meanwhile, employees who have a bad experience at your organisation can turn to websites like Glassdoor to anonymously leave reviews. Research undertaken by Glassdoor shows that negative reviews will have a negative impact on future recruitment. Experience matters!
In this post, we will define the meaning of Visitor Experience and give you a rundown of what you can do to improve the visitor experience within your business.
What is the Visitor Experience?
The visitor experience is the concept of providing people with a positive encounter with your organisation. The visitor experience is influenced by the events that transpire while the visitor is at your premises, evoking positive or negative emotions in response.
A term commonly associated with the hospitality industry, the visitor experience is an important factor when creating and maintaining a positive brand with customers, employees, partners, and other key stakeholders in the organisation.
Why is the Visitor Experience important?
The visitor experience can impact the relationship that customers, employees, partners and other stakeholders have with your organisation. For example, those who have an enjoyable experience at your organisation are likely to do repeat business with you. In contrast, when people have a negative experience, they’re likely to shop elsewhere.
The way that your stakeholder(s) view your brand impacts your business; your business reputation can affect sales, employee satisfaction, brand awareness, and trust.
Branding is important because not only is it what makes a memorable impression on consumers but it allows your customers and clients to know what to expect from your company.
Having a high-quality visitor experience is a simple way to show your stakeholder(s) that your business is professional, innovative, and cares about the experience that your visitors receive. By making people feel welcome and important at your business, visitors will feel catered to and valued.
Read on to find out how to create a first-class visitor experience.
How to create a great Visitor Experience
1. Easy meeting bookings
Many businesses will start the visitor experience when the individual arrives at your building; we believe the experience starts with the meeting invite.
With every new meeting, you should assume that the visitor has never visited your building before and hasn’t met their host. Now that you have this mindset, you should think about the information that the visitor will need prior to attending their meeting. Examples of this include:
- Meeting details: date, time, room
- Host details: name, phone number, photo
- Location details: address, directions, Google Maps location, local amenities
By sending these details prior to the meeting, you allow your visitor to prepare for their journey and research the company and host (extra handy for those making sales calls).
It’s not just the visitor that can benefit from a great experience here. By introducing a visitor management solution into your organisation, hosts can effortlessly book meetings and Facilities Management departments will be kept up to date. In turn, visitors will be anticipated and FMs can prepare for their arrival.
2. Implement visitor pre-registration
Do you require visitors to watch a health and safety video on arrival? Perhaps you have NDAs that should be signed before the visitor can proceed into your building. When completed on-site, these tasks can become very time-consuming and eat into the allocated time your visitor has at your office – meaning you lose out on productivity.
High-quality visitor sign in systems will give you the option to pre-register visitors, saving time upon arrival, increasing efficiencies, and most importantly, providing a first-class experience.
Consider these adding these to your pre-registration process:
- Health and safety documents/videos
- NDAs
- Meeting notes or prep
- Information about your company
- Visitor details: name, car registration, telephone number, etc
- Covid-19: self-certify details, track and trace, compliance documents
- Compliance: GDPR approval, any industry-specific compliance
In addition to completing the pre-registration, you can send your visitors a QR code, which will process them through the building quickly on the day of their meeting.
Read more about the benefits of QR codes.
3. A smooth visitor check-in
If you have implemented the first two sections (meeting room bookings and pre-registration) then by the time your visitor arrives they’ll be feeling calm, prepared and looking forward to their visit! Don’t stop here – you can make your visitor experience even better with these suggestions:
- Make sure they know where to go when they arrive
- Avoid queues with a QR code scanner
- Tell the visitor where their meeting room is
- Provide directions to the meeting room
- Notify the host of their arrival
- Visitor badge printing & access control
- Check your visitors’ temperature for Covid-19 compliance
- Have help available if your visitor needs it
4. A seamless visit
Now that your visitor has been checked into your building smoothly and they have been present for some time, they made need to use the restrooms, café or other facilities that you have available on site.
For particularly large buildings or campus-style sites, it can be difficult for visitors to navigate. If you want to improve the visitor experience for them, be sure to consider what facilities they may need to use and provide wayfinding to get to them.
5. Don’t forget the check-out experience
It’s the end of the visit and your visitor is probably feeling glum that they have to leave! Don’t let the experience down now; be sure to prioritise check-out just as much as check-in.
Here are some tips for helping your check-out process keep up the visitor experience:
- Ensure a quick check-out
- Make it easy to check-out
- Provide visitors with directions to the nearest train/bus/tram station
- Provide visitors with weather and local taxi details
- Ask visitors how their experience was
Summary
To improve your visitor experience, here are 5 key points to start looking at:
- Easy meeting bookings
- Visitor pre-registration
- The check-in experience
- A seamless visit
- Don’t forget the check-out experience
By taking these small processes into consideration, your visitor will feel valued and important from start to finish. If you want to create an unforgettable visitor experience and maintain your brand as one to work with consistently, consider our tips to do this.
More Resources
- The Ultimate Guide – What is a visitor management system and how can it benefit my business?
- How to choose the right automated reception system?
- Download a free visitor management guide for your persona
Get in touch
Want to hear how our tailored solutions can benefit your organisation and deliver the VIP visitor experience at all times? Contact us
